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The main rural environment datasets of datos.gob.es
Noticia

We are currently in a context of digital transformation in which all sectors are in a process of adaptation with the aim of responding to the needs for improvement, agility and efficiency that society demands. One of the fields in which this change is most evident is the rural environment.

In the specific case of Spain, the change of paradigm is more than necessary due to aspects such as climate change or the depopulation of rural areas. The digital transformation of primary activities such as agriculture or livestock farming can contribute to solving these challenges, by attracting new professional profiles to areas with lower population density, and contribute to more efficient and sustainable crops.

Open data play an important role in solving these challenges through digital transformation, as the raw material for technological solutions that help to make better, more sustainable decisions. For this reason, we would like to tell you about the main rural environment datasets that you can find in our catalogue and reuse to implement applications and services that promote improvements in this sector.

What types of data related to the rural environment can I find in datos.gob.es?

In datos.gob.es we have a wide catalogue of data related to different sectors such as Tourism, Environment, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Transport, Health or Industry. The Rural Environment category includes different data catalogues related to Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Forestry.

Currently, this category has more than 1,000 outstanding datasets. Among these datasets we can find national, as well as local and regional information. In this article, we have already talked about the datasets that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food made available to citizens, but there are many more in this category. Along with the ministries, the institutions that most publish this type of dataset are the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, the Government of Catalonia and the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Of these datasets, the following are the most important, together with the format in which they are offered:

  1. At state level

  1. At Autonomous Community level

  1. A the local level

The re-use of data from the agri-food, forestry and rural sectors

The reusable power of all these data sets is very valuable. They can be used to create valuable tools and services. Take the example of the Agricultural Plot Geographic Information System, SIGPAC, which "makes it possible to identify geographically the plots declared by farmers and stockbreeders, in any aid scheme related to the area cultivated or used by the livestock". This viewer was created to make it easier for farmers to submit aid applications and to monitor them. However, it should be noted that SIGPAC has also been used to develop applications and services that improve crop efficiency, such as Campogest or Cropti. Many of these applications also incorporate the data from the Register of Fertiliser Products, such as cultivAPP, which allows farmers to control the phytosanitary treatments applied in an easier way, from their own mobile device.

We can also find applications related to the forestry field, such as förecast, a tool that provides real-time data on forest stocks and allows for spatial-temporal analysis based on remote sensors and artificial intelligence. Or with a marked social character such as Plan Repuebla, a project that seeks to reactivate the rural areas of Castile and Leon.

You can see more examples of the reuse of agricultural data in the finalists of the 2019 Challenge, in our applications section or in this report.

From datos.gob.es we invite you to visit our data catalogue and discover all the datasets we have collected in the different sections.

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Technologies that boost the precision forestry industry
Blog

The forest industry, as defined by FAO, include all economic activities that mostly depend on the production of goods and services from forests. This is an industry that, in many cases, has been seen as destructive to the environment due to its relationship with the tree felling. However, in almost every country in the world with significant forest resources, it plays an essential role in socio-economic development.

According to the "Diagnosis of the Spanish Forestry Sector", published by the former Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment in 2014, Spain is the second EU country in forest area, only behind Sweden. However, the forest industry has a modest weight in Spain GDP (0.63% in 2009). That is, more than half a point below the European average, and below countries with equivalent forest resources. There are interesting studies such as "Characterization of forest industry" published by the BBVA Foundation in 2008 that seek to delve into the analysis of why the forestry industry has not had a higher development rate in Spain despite the size of the forestry ecosystems.

As we all know, we are living a stage of digital transformation in which technology is revolutionizing industries all over the world, from logistics to manufacturing, healthcare or financial sector. Even agriculture is living a great transformation due to a combination of technologies, including artificial intelligence and the enrichment of private and ultralocal data with open data. However, the forestry industry seems to be left behind most of the other industries in this transformation.

Inspired by successes in agriculture, some forest operators have begun to pioneer the use of advanced technologies to improve the results of forest management. This approach is known as precision forestry, clearly connected with the most advanced precision agriculture or smart agriculture.

The precision forestry industry starts to benefit from the application of a series of emerging technologies, such as the laser scanner (LIDAR) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones. We are going to review some of this technologies that, according to some studies, are already beginning to produce productivity improvements of 5 - 25% per year.

  • LIDARs, for example, are increasingly used to produce digital land models that allow, through data science techniques, to make estimates of available wood inventories (trees per hectare, tree height or log diameters). A more precise knowledge of the land, the water flows or the forest inventories contributes not only to better management of wood inventory but also to better plan a harvest. For example, analyzing very precise data to make better decisions about the type of machinery needed and its optimal placement to harvest a forest unit. Open data published by public administrations, for example related to the land cartography or the location of water resources, are fundamental to enrich the data captured by these techniques. For example, in Spain, the National Geographic Institute has published LiDAR data related to the entire territory. Some regions such as Castilla y León and Catalonia also provide data in this format. In the same way there are ambitious projects to add LIDAR-format data all around the world, such as Open Topography and Lidar online, although their coverage is still limited.
  • Unmanned aerial vehicles are increasingly used in the forestry industry to perform surveillance and mapping tasks when they are equipped with the aforementioned LIDAR systems. In other cases, they can also be equipped with thermal cameras or other devices to detect outbreaks of pests and diseases or improve early warnings in case of fire. There are even experimental projects to use drones in simple forestry operations, such as planting seeds, fertilizing new plantations or fumigating weeds in areas that are not easily accessible.

There are, of course, other very interesting technologies, such as those to make possible the genetic selection and improvement of tree seeds to better adapt to the land and their use, or the robotization of felling, sowing or fertilization tasks. However, all have in common the need to manage high amounts of data and the possibility of enriching the information with open data to improve the analytical possibilities that allow to make better decisions. From the meteorological data published by the AEMET or the current Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries to the cartographic maps from the IGN, including forest inventories data from the Department of Rural Development, Innovation and Forestry Policy or the water resources from the Hydrographic Confederations. All of them are an important base to combine with the data captured by private means to improve innovation in the sector.

The pioneers of this revolution are obtaining advantages such as costs saving and higher production per forest unit. This second advantage is especially valuable in Western Europe where there is not many additional forest land available for new crops.

The digital transformation that forestry industry is living may represent a new opportunity for the development of this sector in Spain where there is an interesting combination of natural resources, capacities to adopt the technologies that enable this transformation and the availability of open data.

Content prepared by Jose Luis Marín, Head of Corporate Technology Startegy en MADISON MK and Euroalert CEO.

Contents and points of view expressed in this publication are the exclusive responsibility of its author.

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